Four serving officers of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) are currently in the grips of the police for their alleged involvement in a series of robbery cases on the Spintex road in Accra.
The four, Corporals Francis Marfo, Alorvor Yaw Mark, Glymon Dickson and Anthony Hammond Quaye, and another suspect, Peter Omari-Ansong, who had been dismissed from the army for reasons not immediately known, allegedly attacked their victims at gun-point and robbed them of their belongings including money.
Omari-Ansong was believed to be the one who recruited the four soldiers for the operations.
It was not too clear which unit in the army they belonged to, but they were known to be stationed at the Burma Camp and under the Sports Services Division.
Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Reindolf Agyemang, who is prosecuting the case, confirmed the incident to DAILY GUIDE and added that the four had since been remanded into prison custody.
They were said to have been arrested on September 8, 2011 around the offices of the Western Union along the Spintex road, where they had laid ambush and were robbing unsuspecting members of the public who went there to do business.
�When anybody comes out of the office, then they used their vehicle, a Toyota Corolla with registration number GR 211-11, to trail that person. They will trail you to some point and they will come, cross you and say they are CID men from the Police Headquarters and that they have been sent to arrest you, the victim, because of a certain reported case against you,� he narrated.
ASP Agyemang said the soldiers then pretended to be taking their victims to the Police Headquarters and when they got to a certain point �they pull you out, beat you up and take whatever money you have on you�.According to him, they carried out the operation on two separate occasions and that in both instances they wore plain clothes (mufti).
But luck eluded the soldiers the second time when the victim they robbed had to pick another taxi cab home.
On his way home, the police prosecutor said the victim spotted the vehicle the soldiers used in robbing him heading towards Teshie-Nungua. He asked the taxi driver on whose vehicle he was riding to trail the vehicle; and also informed his brother to alert the police.
The victim�s brother was said to have quickly rushed to the Nungua Police Barrier where he informed some officers on duty, who accosted the vehicle and its occupant soldiers when they got there.
They were then identified by the victim as those who attacked and robbed him.
The police subsequently arrested them and took them to the Kpeshie Divisional headquarters where they were charged with the offence and later arraigned.
Public Relations Officer of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), Colonel Mbawine Atintande, also confirmed the story.
�All soldiers- officer, man, woman- we all come under two laws: That�s the Armed Forces law and the rest of the legal laws of sovereignty that all of us citizens abide by. Therefore if anybody commits any crime, it still reflects in our criminal or legal books and the requisite punishment will have to be given to anybody who falls or finds himself out of the law,� he said.
For this reason, he said, �when they are tried, whatever the civil system gives to them, they will come back and we will also know what to do�.
Colonel Atintande further noted: �I think it is very important to let everybody understand that nobody is above the law. As soldiers, if you fall foul, you have to be dealt with according to the law and therefore we should be mindful that we have to do the right things at all times.�
�So no matter who you are, once you fall foul�but of course a lot will be done to ensure that fairness is applied in the sense that you will not be unnecessarily accused. That�s why we welcome police investigations into the case,� he emphasised.
Corporals Francis Marfo, Alorvor Yaw Mark, Glymon Dickson, Anthony Hammond Quaye as well as Peter Omari-Ansong are scheduled to reappear in court on October 7, 2011.
<<Print>>